Nintendo Switch is announced, allowing play from home and away

The Nintendo Switch console (officially announced yesterday) promises to be a game changer. Nintendo are hoping its new console (previously code-named the NX) will entice the millions of gamers they lost after the release of the Nintendo WiiU in 2012.

The new console looks like a tablet. You can attach controllers to its side hopes, in a bid to appeal to both home-based gamers and also handheld gamers. Nintendo released a short “teaser” which show cased what one analyst said to be Nintendo’s “last shot” at selling a home console. A highlight of the video shows one guy playing a game from home then in a taxi, on a plane, back in a taxi and home again.

Nintendo Switch can be seated in a dock to play games on a television or used as a stand-alone portable device and boasts some top third party developers working on games such as Activision, Capcom and Ubisoft – three developers who moved away from producing games for its predecessor WiiU.

Another interesting announcement is that the Switch will use small cartridges to deliver its games, moving back to Nintendo’s roots (hands up if you remember the NES and SNES?). The last time a home console used cartridges was back in the 90s with the N64 that was home to groundbreaking games such as The Legend of Zelda and Goldeneye. A new generation of gamers may now be introduced to the magic of blowing on cartridges to get them to work…

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wind has been announced as a launch title

Taking to twitter I wanted to find out if people actually we’re interested, and out of the 50 people polled 75% said that they were excited for the release of the Nintendo Switch. And with over 8 million views of the announcement YouTube video, interest in Nintendo doesn’t seem to be slowing down.

@JulianMarch tweets, ‘The tongue tied Wii U is dead. The #NintendoSwitch speak clearly what it is and what it does’

@heuwah agrees and tweets, ‘so cool… This takes gaming to a new level #Nintendo #Switch’

However, not everyone got what the Nintendo Switch was, with one confused Facebook user posting:

What is Nintendo Switch though? A portable WiiU or something else entirely?

Nintendo are yet to reveal the console’s technical specifications, so it’s hard to compare it to its competitors from Sony and Microsoft. Nintendo has defiantly built the anticipation and the wait isn’t as far away as you may think – the Switch has been given a March 2017 release date.

As a huge Nintendo fan, I was ecstatic to see not only a new Legend of Zelda game but also showcasing a new Super Mario game and Mario Kart game. Nintendo do an amazing job at making software, so if all fails with the home consoles they have a great future in making games for other consoles.